Unhappy Ever After
by Kalliroscope
Summary: --Rated PG13 for some bad language-- Most M/R fics have Mark admitting he’s in love with Roger, then Roger and he are together-forever-happy-ever-after. This one’s… a bit different. --M/R, as if I need to say that.


Unhappy Ever After  
by Kalliroscope  


  


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"…with his guitar," Mark said, training his camera on Roger, who was sitting on the couch plucking at his guitar. Roger glared at the camera. "Get that thing away from me, Mark," he said. "I'm not in the mood to be filmed."   
  
Mark flipped the camera off, and set it on the table. "Got any plans for the day?" he said, careful to keep his voice even. He stared at his camera.   
  
"Mimi and I were going to…" Roger began. Mark didn't wait for the rest. He stood up, grabbed his scarf and his camera, said "Fine, fine. I'm going for a walk," and left. Behind him, the strains of Roger's electric guitar followed him down the stairs.  
  


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Mark sat on a bench in the park, his camera out. He filmed the people who walked by, from the white-haired grandmothers and their rambunctious grandchildren, to a group of pink-haired, leather-jacket-wearing, mohawk-headed teenagers slouching around a cluster of trees.   
  
"Hey, Mark," a voice from behind him said. Mark jumped - then turned around, flipping the camera off. "Oh, hi!" he said enthusiastically; the owner of the voice was Angel. "Sit down," the blonde film maker said, scooting over on the bench. Angel sat beside him.  
  
"What's up?" the cross dressing street drummer asked him calmly. "Not much," Mark lied, fiddling with his camera lens. Angel put her head to one side, watching him carefully. "Are you sure?" she asked.  
  
Mark shook his head. "No, everything's… oh, I'm a bad liar," he sighed. "Angel, I have a hypothetical situation for you… purely hypothetical," he added hastily. "If you were in love with your best friend… a best friend who had a girl friend already… what would you do?"  
  
Angel sat and thought for what Mark considered to be far too long of a minute. Then she said "Hypothetical, eh?" Mark nodded. "All right," Angel said. "What I would do, were I in your--in this position… I wouldn't let that best friend know. I'd hide it."  
  
Mark felt disappointed by those words, and must have let it show on his face, because Angel said "Well, your friendship with Roger is really close, right? And you don't want to lose that, do you? If Roger hadn't got Mimi," she continued, "it'd be different. Then… I don't know. But he HAS got Mimi, and my advice to you, Mark, is… to let it be."  
  
Mark stood up. "Well, thanks anyway," he said glumly. "Even though that wasn't really what I wanted to hear." Angel grinned. "What happened to the hypothetical situation?"   
  
Mark laughed weakly, said "Good-bye," and left. He wasn't headed for the loft, though…  
  


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"Mark!" Joanne looked surprised, and not in an entirely flattering way, to see Mark standing on the doorstep of the apartment she shared with Maureen. "What do you want?"  
  
"I want to talk to Maureen," Mark said. It had taken him some serious thinking to get this far; serious thinking coupled with the reasoning "Well, I don't have to TAKE her advice, after all!"  
  
"Maureen?" Joanne said suspiciously. "C'mon, Joanne," Mark said tiredly. "I don't have time for this. Just let me in, would you?"  
  
Joanne bit her lip, then shrugged and opened the door wider. Mark entered the small room. "I'll get Maureen," Joanne said, and went into the next room, leaving Mark with his thoughts.  
  
*I don't have to actually take her advice,* the young film-maker rationalised his actions once again. *I just want to know it… in case it's good…*  
  
Maureen entered the room. "Hi, Mark!" she said brightly, collapsing into an easy chair. "What's up?"   
  
Mark sat down on the couch opposite her. "Where's Joanne?" he asked. Maureen shrugged. "I sent her to pack up the equipment from last night's performance… which you weren't at, by the way," she finished accusingly.  
  
Mark tried to avoid that subject: He'd forgotten completely about Maureen's performance.   
  
"So what'd you want to talk to me about?" Maureen asked. Mark took a deep breath.  
  
"I have a hypothetical situation," he began slowly. Maureen snorted. "Screw hypothetical situations," she said. "Just say it."  
  
Mark shrugged. "All right, then. I'm in love with Roger. What do I do?"  
  
Maureen was silent for a long moment, her eyes wide. "Ooh… wow, that's quite a hypothetical situation," she said finally. "Um. In love. With Roger? Interesting."  
  
Mark got fed up. "Just give me your advice, Maureen!" he said impatiently.  
  
Maureen rolled her eyes. "Okay. Fine. Advice. Right. Well…" She grinned brightly. "Just tell him! I mean, he probably won't hate you forever, and you'll feel loads better for getting off your chest… the worst that can happen is Mimi will try to murder you."  
  
Mark raised an eyebrow. "Lovely worst case scenario, Maureen," he said dryly. Maureen shrugged. "That's my advice," she said carelessly, and stood up.  
  
"I have some shopping to do," she said. "Feel free to hang around if you want, but there's nothing to do - Joanne won't be back for a while, there's loads of equipment."  
  
Mark shook his head and stood up. "Thanks for the advice," he said, and followed Maureen out the door.   
  
"Any time," she said, treating him to a smile as she locked the apartment door.  
  


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When Mark finally returned to the loft, it was nearly dark. He had wandered a bit more through the city streets, wondering whose advice to take - Angel's or Maureen's. But, as he didn't want to get mugged, he went back to the loft after he made up his mind.  
  
As he climbed the stairs to the loft, he worked out in his mind what to say. "Hi, Roger, guess what? I'm in love with you," he muttered. "Um. No, I don't think that'd work…"  
  
Mark dug around in his pocket for his key, found it, unlocked the door, and was about to open when it swung open on it's own. In the doorway stood Roger. "Hi, Mark," Roger said. "Where've you been all day?"   
  
"I told you," Mark said. "I took a walk."  
  
"Hell of a walk," Roger said with a raised eyebrow. As he began to head down the stairs, Mark called after him "Wait!"  
  
Roger paused, and turned around to face Mark. "Yeah?" he said.  
  
Mark fought hard to keep his voice steady. "I, uh, have something I… want to tell you," he said, failing in the Battle of the Voice. Roger nodded. "Okay, shoot," he said.  
  
Mark turned a furious shade of red. Carefully avoiding Roger's inquisitive eyes, he stammered "What, uh, what would you say if I said… if I said I… was in love with you?"  
  
When Roger was silent for far too long, Mark chanced a look up. Roger's eyes were wide, the expression on his face unreadable. "Um," Mark said. "Roger?"  
  
Roger shook his head quickly. "That didn't happen," he said. "Got it?"  
  
"But it did happen, Roger," Mark said. "Hey, don't go! I--"  
  
Roger interrupted him, his eyes blazing. "Mark, shut the fuck up," he growled. "This is so not happening, got it?! You did not just try to destroy our friendship, my relationship with Mimi - you did not just try to wreck everything."  
  
Mark was silent. Roger continued. "It didn't happen. I'm going out with Mimi. If you ever mention this again, I… I'll… I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pleasant."  
  
With those words, Roger stormed down the stairs and out the door at the end. Mark stared down at where he'd just been. "…it didn't happen…" he whispered. "That'll teach me to take Maureen's advice," he groaned, putting his head in his hands.  
  


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